2015
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Lockheed Martin Corp has been awarded a $662,032,335 contract by the United States' Department of Defense for the purchase of two MC-130J, two HC-130J, three KC-130J, one C-130J, two U.S. Coast Guard HC-130J production aircraft, and 20 quick engine change assemblies under the basic contract. Work will be performed in Marietta, Georgia, with an expected completion date of Jan. 31, 2018. View original article: http://worlddefencenews.blogspot.com...-contract.html View full article
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United States embassy officials in Addis Ababa have confirmed that the Ethiopian government has received a single Lockheed C-130E Hercules transport aircraft from the United States for tactical airlift of troops and equipment to support Ethiopian participation in AU and UN peacekeeping operations.The aircraft was previously operated by the Puerto Rico National Guard where it was flown by the 198th Airlift Squadron, according to Air Forces Daily. After retirement from the US Air Force, it was put in storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, in September, 2013, having flown a total of 22 739 flight hours. Early the following year it was taken out of storage and prep…
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GREENVILLE, S.C. – Airmen from the North Carolina and Wyoming Air National Guard conducted annual Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) training along with their partners from the U.S. Forest Service here, during the week of May 4, 2015. Col. Tom Brown, a MAFFS navigator and director of operations of the Air National Guard Office at the North Carolina National Guard, Joint Force Headquarters explained the well-established relationship between the 145th Airlift Wing, the 153rd Airlift Wing of Wyoming and the U.S. Forest Service. “We have been training with our sister unit the 153rd long enough now that we can operate with mixed air and ground crews and function …
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US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) plans to fit high-energy-laser active denial systems onto some of the AC-130J Ghostrider gunships currently under development. "We're not always going to kill people in our sights, sometimes we just want them to stop what they're doing … active denial weaponry is key to all of this," Lieutenant General Bradley Heithold, AFSOC commander, told the Directed Energy Summit, as quoted by IHS Jane's. The Active Denial System (ADS), often referred to as heat or pain rays, is meant to quickly heat the surface of the skin causing unbearable pain by firing a beam of 94-Ghz microwaves. The beam affects only the surface of the skin bu…
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POWIDZ AIR BASE, Poland — Air Force members left Powidz Air Base, Poland, April 17 after completing bilateral training with the Polish air force. The training featured two C-130J Hercules from the 37th Airlift Squadron, two C-130H aircraft from the 302nd Airlift Wing and military personnel from around Europe. “Flying in Poland affords the 37th AS a tremendous opportunity to accomplish training that we’d otherwise have difficulty obtaining,” said 1st Lt. Kenneth Hertzler, 37th AS co-pilot. “Our time with the Poles was important for all of us because our air forces were able to exchange with one another in terms of experience and ideas. With that exchange, we’re able to c…
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Rolls-Royce’s eight-year journey to develop the T56 Series 3.5 engine upgrade package for legacy C-130 aircraft is about to bear fruit following the US Air Force’s “Milestone C” decision last week to commit the program to production and deployment. Tom Hartmann, senior vice president of customer business for Rolls-Royce Defense, expects to be on contract with the air force for an initial 14 upgrade kits this month and another order of 36 is expected in fiscal year 2016. The initial contract is valued at $38 million and is the start of what could be a long-running engine improvement program. It also helps Rolls-Royce as the company pitches the Series 3.5 upgrade to the g…
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WASHINGTON — The Air Force has awarded Rolls-Royce a $36 million contract to begin upgrading its fleet of C-130 transport planes, the company announced. The contract will kick off what is expected to be a long-running agreement with the Air Force to upgrade the entire fleet of 400 C-130E and C-130H engines with Rolls-Royce’s T56 Series 3.5 kits. Deliveries of the upgrade packages will begin in December, and will introduce the engine improvements into Air Force and US Air National Guard C-130s, according to an Oct. 20 company news release. The Series 3.5 upgrade, which was designed and funded by Rolls-Royce, enables the engines to operate at low temperatures, extends pa…
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The US Air Force has kept some Lockheed Martin AC-130U gunships marked for retirement for use as directed energy weapon testbeds as the service pursues airborne lasers for offensive and defensive uses. Maj Gen Jerry Harris, vice-chief of Air Combat Command, says a number of gunships that would have otherwise been sent to the boneyard are now being used to test emerging directed energy technologies, like lasers and microwave energy guns. “We have a requirement for a minimum number of gunships,” Harris said at a 28 July Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments directed energy summit in Washington. “We have some additional U-models we will fly longer for test beds.” …
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The US Air Force is set to initiate a multi-billion dollar Lockheed Martin C-130X avionics modernisation programme (AMP), following recommendations by an Air Mobility Command C-130 study team. USAF leaders are also considering the study group's recommendations for a powerplant upgrade and acquisition of 150 new C-130J-30s. The group, known as a Tiger Team, was formed to consider problems with the C-130 Hercules transport, including its reliability and maintainability and lack of global air transportation management (GATM) avionics. With 44 versions of the aircraft operating with the USAF, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, the intention is to reduce to two basic …
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The US Air Force (USAF) has taken delivery of a MC-130J Commando II aircraft from the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Georgia. The new aircraft is intended for the USAF's Kadena Air Base in Japan. The latest development follows the delivery of two MC-130J Commando aircraft from Lockheed's facility. Assigned to be operated by the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), the aircraft ferried last week was intended for Kadena Air Base, Japan and the Hurlburt Field, Florida. Previously known as the Combat Shadow II, the MC-130J Commando II aircraft is an improved variant of the C-130J aircraft. The special operations tanker aircraft is designed to replace the …
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A congressionally mandated Air Force review of the service's C-130s backs up all of the service's decisions to move and retire parts of its Hercules fleet, but fails to allay concerns from lawmakers who are poised to block those plans. The Air Force in March finalized a report on C-130 force structure, which was mandated in the fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act. That year, the Air Force attempted to retire dozens of C-130s, but was blocked by Congress, which then required the service to produce a report on the savings and strategic decisions behind the moves. The Air Force kept a minimum of 358 aircraft during the review. The service is now moving to reduce…
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WASHINGTON — The US Air Force is looking for allies on the Hill to rework a major C-130 upgrade program, while warning that it may look to cut entire fleets of airplanes if it does not get relief from the program over the next five years.But the service may find itself facing tough opposition, if a Wednesday hearing of the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee is any indication.The C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) has become a flashpoint in recent years. While members of Congress have fought hard for the program, the Air Force has said it is too costly and slow to do the entire, wide-ranging suite of upgrades.Instead, the service wants…
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[ATTACH=CONFIG]4705[/ATTACH] WASHINGTON — The US Air Force is looking for allies on the Hill to rework a major C-130 upgrade program, while warning that it may look to cut entire fleets of airplanes if it does not get relief from the program over the next five years. But the service may find itself facing tough opposition, if a Wednesday hearing of the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee is any indication. The C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) has become a flashpoint in recent years. While members of Congress have fought hard for the program, the Air Force has said it is too costly and slow to do the entire, wide-ranging su…
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The U.S. Forest Service has issued the solicitation for a flight crew to operate the C-130H air tanker that they expect to have available at McClellan at Sacramento, Calilfornia beginning in mid-May. They intend to fill the following jobs initially for a nine month period with options to extend the term of the contract for an additional two years. 1 C-130H Qualified Contractor Aircrew Project Manager 2 MAFFS II Qualified Instructor Pilots, 1 US Coast Guard Qualified Flight Engineer Instructor, or US Air Force Qualified FE Instructor 2 MAFFS II Qualified Load Master Instructors The requirements for the two pilots: Must be current and qualified as a MAFFS Instruct…
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Fire Aviation has obtained a document produced by the U.S. Forest Service which indicates they expect to receive the seven former Coast Guard C-130H aircraft between Fiscal Years 2017 and 2019 after they have been converted into air tankers — two in 2017, three in 2018, and the last two in 2019. (The federal fiscal year begins in October.) This is a year later than information the Chief of the USFS, Tom Tidwell, provided to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in July of 2014.Last month the agency’s announced plan, until the seven aircraft have been fully converted to air tankers with conventional gravity-based retardant tanks, was to operate one C-130H in 20…
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The U.S. Forest Service is making one of their HC-130H air tankers, Tanker 118, available for wildfire suppression missions this week. The aircraft is one of seven that are being transferred from the Coast Guard to the USFS, but the titles for all of them still remain with the Coast Guard. The work on Tanker 118 to completely convert it into an air tanker is not complete. It needs a conventional internal gravity-based retardant tank, and obviously, a paint job that will hopefully include some professionally crafted tanker numbers on the tail. Tanker 118 arrived at McClellan Airport on June 17, where maintenance, installation and testing of the Modular Airborne Firefight…
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MESA, AZ (KPHO/KTVK) -International Air Response is no stranger to the silver screen. Bane dangled out the back of an IAR airplane in the skies over Scotland for "The Dark Knight Rises" in 2012. "Movies are great because you get exposure," Billy Grantham, CEO of International Air Response, said. "So when we go and do a major motion picture, the buzz is all over social media and our name is getting out there.” Cars fell from 12,000 feet over the desert near Coolidge thanks to IAR's effort in Furious 7, the last in The Fast and the Furious franchise. "People that drive cars out of planes are usually pretty fun people to work with,' Grantham said, talking about the stunt …
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Two of the world’s biggest bushfire-fighting aircraft have landed on Victorian soil ahead of what is expected to be a scorching summer. The C-130 Hercules and the RJ85 are among the 47 water bombers that have been brought in from overseas for the bushfire season. They will join another 100 aircraft in the $23.3 million bushfire defence fleet that can be called on to fight blazes this summer. Minister for Emergency Services Jane Garrett inspected the fleet at Avalon Airport and said the aircraft were key to keeping Victorians safe. “The large air tankers are game-changers when it comes to fighting bushfires,’’ she said. “The air…
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Workers, volunteers working to get C-130 flying again after 14 years on the ground at Sequoia Field Over the three years that he has worked at the Bob Wiley Detention Facility north of Visalia, Stephen Fagundes frequently has noticed the C-130A (USAF 56-0473, TBM N473TM, Lockheed c/n 3081) Hercules airplane parked on the tarmac at neighboring Sequoia Field Airport. In that time, Fagundes said he hasn't seen the plane move, except for once a couple of months ago when it was turned so its nose faced the northeast. The truth is that the 40-ton airplane, one of the first to come off Lockheed Martin Corps' Georgia assembly line in 1957, hasn't flown in more than 13 years, a…
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When it comes to skydiving, Red Bull Air Force team member Jeff Provenzano has got a lot of experience. But jumping out of an airplane while sitting on a living room couch playing video games is one thing he's yet to try. Until now. In his latest stunt, for technology company NVIDIA (they manufacture the kind of computer chips that make smartphones possible, as well producing gaming platforms) Provenzano looks so calm and collected, he could almost take a nap, but instead he focuses on the screen in front of him. We've been told that no less than three living rooms were dropped out of the sky in the filming of this video, but we…
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Next week, the Transport Formation will begin one of the most significant steps in the absorption of advanced Hercules planes: Two Hercules squadrons that have worked together for over four decades will merge into one single Hercules squadron in the force. Welcome to the "Hercules" family Shani Pomes The IAF's Formation of Hercules C-130 planes is facing a significant change: Two sister squadrons that have operated for almost four decades side by side will merge into once united squadron this week. The "Yellow Bird" squadron will be taking people from the "Elephant" squadron, and in fact will be the only one in the IAF that will operate the old Hercul…
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David Pirie is a technical sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, but he has a much cooler title: dropmaster. He's part of the crew of a "Hurricane Hunter," one of the snub-nose C-130 cargo planes the Air Force has retrofitted to fly into storms to gather data. The thing Pirie drops out the belly of the massive plane is tiny - about the size of a mailing tube. The orange parachute that hangs off it looks like it could fit a plastic Army man. But the information it gathers from hurricanes is huge. Pirie showed off the tool - called a dropsonde - on Tuesday. One of the Air Force's 10 Hurricane Hunters was at Norfolk International Airport as part of the National Oceanic and Atm…
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When Lockheed designed the C-130 Hercules in Marietta in the 1950s, company engineer Kelly Johnson said they would be lucky to sell a hundred. In 2015, Tony Frese, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and deputy program manager of C-130 Programs, delivered number 2,500. “Here we are 60 years later,” said Frese. “So we always are quite thankful that Kelly Johnson, a brilliant man, got that one piece wrong.” That engineer, Johnson, was working on sleek reconnaissance jets. The Hercules, by comparison, is clunky, with large propellers, a heavy tail and a belly big enough to fit a bulldozer. But that’s been the massive transport plane’s secret…
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[ATTACH=CONFIG]4813[/ATTACH] CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The sweat droplets on the faces of the Modular Airborne FireFighting Systems crew members were in a tight race to hit their jaw line and fall to the floor of the flight deck. The crew had flown this mission hundreds of times, but this flight was different. The flight deck on the C-130H aircraft was overwhelmingly stuffy as Maj. Jack Berquist informed his crew that their landing gear was malfunctioning – something that has never happened on a MAFFS mission or in the unit itself. Moments after dropping slurry on fires in Utah last August, the crew circled the skies, hoping to land at Hill Air Force Base as they tro…
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CHEYENNE, Wyo. - By the end of October 2015, Wyoming Air National Guard's 153rd Airlift Wing, will return to its original fleet of eight C-130 aircraft, losing four that it gained nine years ago. In 2006, the 153rd Airlift Wing welcomed the 30th Airlift Squadron to its ranks, making it the first guard-based unit in the U.S. Air Force's Air Mobility Command to gain an active duty associate unit. With the active-associate, came personnel, missions, and four aircraft, upping the size of the Cheyenne-based unit's C-130 fleet to 12. Lt. Col. Todd Davis, 153rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron commander, is overseeing the C-130 transfers from Cheyenne to the Nevad…
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